I post here my request for guidence in my pursuit of building a VPO for the first time.

So, I want to build it for my wife, a profesional organ player, so she has a home practice instrument. Curently she has an ood sonata organ that barely works (no other sounds but the harpsichord on one manual, nothing on the second manual and pedal sounds). Anyway, the instrument is old and the keys lack the pressure point (druckpunckt).

As we want to keep the project as cost effective as posible, we will use the pedal and bench from the Sonata instrument.

I understand Fatar keyboards are the best for this kind of project, so I will use 2 fatar 60LF.

Of course, we will also use the hauptwerk software. But the midi/audio isdue are a separat topic. In here I only want to get an instrument that can be conected to midi.

Beyond this point, I am stuck and have no ideea how to continue. What to do next. So please either guide me or refer to other existing guides if they are available.

Also my technical expertise is nonexistant, though I am a fast learner.

Welcome to the HW Forum and all the best in your building of a VPO. There are many brilliant minds that contribute here so there is a great wealth of knowledge available.

For starters, let me say that while building an organ might be very gratifying, etc, it is not the only way. By that I mean it does require some (usually considerable) time and even some amount of money. Having said that, you may want to also look into conversion of an existing instrument, many of which have all the needed hardware already and even are quite cost effective. Ebay and some other online forums have listings of used instruments. The bigger issue there is shipping costs. Sometimes you may find one nearby. Takes some searching.

OTOH, maybe the instrument you have already may be a candidate. It doesn't matter if it is working or not, as long as the (switching) functions still work. Many times, we complete remove all the existing electronics and connect such as the manual "switches" to a MIDI encoder which interprets the switch function such that a computer can respond.

Back to your question as to a guide, check out Ken Spencer's excellent - All About Hauptwerk

If you are a fast learner and speak English well (you don't say your location), the book by Ken Spencer has proved to be very helpful to my DIY clients to gain sufficient knowledge to make rational decisions. The use of the old organ for a stand to hold the keyboards is a road many have taken. After you have absorbed the knowledge you need from Ken's book you will be able to ask pertinent questions and understand the answers. So the first thing to do is go get the book and see if it helps. You will be glad you did.

Thomas

epeorgan wrote:Hello to all,

I post here my request for guidence in my pursuit of building a VPO for the first time.

So, I want to build it for my wife, a profesional organ player, so she has a home practice instrument. Curently she has an ood sonata organ that barely works (no other sounds but the harpsichord on one manual, nothing on the second manual and pedal sounds). Anyway, the instrument is old and the keys lack the pressure point (druckpunckt).

As we want to keep the project as cost effective as posible, we will use the pedal and bench from the Sonata instrument.

I understand Fatar keyboards are the best for this kind of project, so I will use 2 fatar 60LF.

Of course, we will also use the hauptwerk software. But the midi/audio isdue are a separat topic. In here I only want to get an instrument that can be conected to midi.

Beyond this point, I am stuck and have no ideea how to continue. What to do next. So please either guide me or refer to other existing guides if they are available.

Also my technical expertise is nonexistant, though I am a fast learner.

Well, thank you for these first directions you both gaved me. Yes, though I am not experimented with hardware technology, I can quite well undestand the principles behind technology. So if guides don`t become to much science, I can indee learn. I learned photography by myself to the point I worked as a wedding photographer. I learned photoshop by myself. So I consider myself tech savvy

I will buy Spencer`s book, though it will arrive with dificulty here in Romania.

Looking to purchase a hauptwerk 4 manual console organ in the near future from either the U.S, U.K or Europe. Not sure which part of the world shipping is most expensive if I ordered from Melbourne, Australia. At this stage i don't know whether it would be cheaper to import a console from Europe, States or somewhere else as we don't have many resellers here, or any hauptwerk agents. We have individual builders here that charge a premium more for whats on offer in Europe and the U.S. Can anyone or someone advise where in the world is a good place to start looking for a fully finished or unfinished console. Your input wold be much appreciated. Which parts of the world will be more cost effective rather than cost prohibitive.

I don't need a pc as the mac for it is ready and running. All audio gear will also be ordered from Australia as we have good retailers here. Any suggestions.

Looking to purchase a hauptwerk 4 manual console organ in the near future from either the U.S, U.K or Europe. Not sure which part of the world shipping is most expensive if I ordered from Melbourne, Australia. At this stage i don't know whether it would be cheaper to import a console from Europe, States or somewhere else as we don't have many resellers here, or any hauptwerk agents. We have individual builders here that charge a premium more for whats on offer in Europe and the U.S. Can anyone or someone advise where in the world is a good place to start looking for a fully finished or unfinished console. Your input wold be much appreciated. Which parts of the world will be more cost effective rather than cost prohibitive.

I don't need a pc as the mac for it is ready and running. All audio gear will also be ordered from Australia as we have good retailers here. Any suggestions.

So are you saying that you just need the wood furniture and you will supply the keyboards, pedal board and electronics? Or do you need a church grade console with all electronics except the computer and sound system?

I would think that finding a furniture maker in Australia and getting a one off built would provide the best price and minimal shipping costs. There are at least three USA companies that build consoles/tables that could provide you what you need. Pricing between $2,000-$5,999 USD plus packing and shipping to Oz. Just the crating for a church organ console would run about $2,000 if made from bug free wood and the cartage for ~500 kilos of organ+crate could easily run another $,2000. This is in addition to the cost of the organ.

The other issue is 4-manual organs are different from 2 & 3 manual organs by just enough to make themspecial builds and more expensive and almost impossible to find used. I would encourage you to think 3-manual Hauptwerk with floating divisions. Also a 4-manual sample set is going to generally require a larger computer than you may have already. I recommend 64GB of RAM to those contemplating a 4-manual build.

The audio system of choice for AU would be the Dante Audio system from Audinate.com an Australian company.It is an audio over ethernet that uses cat 5 cable to transport digital audio to D/A converters located at the speaker/amplifier locations. The system can handle up to 64 bi-directional channels per computer and uses an inexpensive ASIO software sound card application.

My conclusion is that you will probably spend less by buying the console furniture locally. The computer and electronics may also be better bought locally. There may also be some savings to buying the keyboards and pedal board from Canada.

I pretty much am looking for a church 4 manual organ console complete that can plug into Def tech towers and monitors and ams as well as a Mac I am currently using and have purpose built for it. Looking or sourcing a builder here is more expensive to make organs as well as buying already existing consoles than anywhere else. There are places here in Melbourne that sell second hand organs or preloved organs, but are guttered and are still being sold for a premium although not working and need to still spend around $5K $10K on top of that say an already faulted out $5K to $10K purchases guttered large console. Particularly for additional electric with conversions or purchasing additional manuals if I purchase say a 2 or 3 manual gutted organ console. The trouble for me does not seem to stack up so thats why i took to the forum to ask and get some ideas. Now sure if this is entirely appropriate, however that is not only my dilemma, but a few other people's dilemmas.

I have emailed almost half the European and some American resellers lists on the hauptwerk website to discover if there is anything complete consoles they can offer me and the growing hauptwerk market in Australia and New Zealand. Most of the hauptwerk businesses are currently circulating the U.S, Europe and Asia. Australia does does not have an international partnership reseller here like you guys have there, but rather we have private company on the side not like resellers that offer custom organ makes without much of the public knowing about that they are charged a higher premium that what worldly organ resellers are offering. The hauptwerk market is untouched here hence my questions about complete and plug in consoles. My apologies Thomas if I was not clear about this from the start. There are about 20 people from Australia I know of who have a hauptwerk system using existing consoles or purchased keyboards all purchased at a premium, and privately designed and manufactured consoles are at a premium are untenable for most of us to be expected to falk out. The classifieds sell quiet a few depending on the budgets people have, but not many sell consoles complete here unless they come from Organ Historical Societies/trusts, again charged at a premium more that what you guys sometimes pay for and yet again are real and yet expensive pipe organs looking for expensive homes. Talk about price wars.

It would be nice to see an alternative reseller who can cater for the Australian market since its growing. i view regularly several forums where i have gained tremendous rapport and support of fellow ozzies and sure that most may agree to disagree or visa versa. Where are the dealers and retailers and others who can offer us something here. We have an Australian version or virtual Organ companies, but starting prices for standard consoles start somewhere between $30 to $40K for a new console depending on what you want. They do not recondition or sell preowned or demonstrator organs like some other companies.

In relation to your question on the keyboards and considerations of a 3 manual and have a 4th floating division. I am not quite with you and what you mean about this. Can you please explain this further. Is this more about if i have a 3 manual organ, but purchase a 4 or 5 manual sample set....how would I use the additional 1 to 2 divisions of a 5 manual sample set on a 3 manual console. Thats why I wanted to get a 4 manual organ to take away the frustration and added complexity virtually compensating for floating divisions. i am thinking that the 4th keyboard would be hovering above my head on a spring waiting to be used if i purchased a 3 manual organ.

I like your suggestion of the audio as I also came across this as well. I haven't done my research into this as much as i made a decision to go for the def tech towers, subs and monitor speakers with RME amps that go with that.

I probably would spend less....but it does not always turn out that way Thomas. Australia has an unhidden market and can go ballistic with this stuff but because it is really expensive given we are the highest taxed country in the OECD world, its no surprise we all try to look for a bargain to save somewhere.